The US101 team, led by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y., released a statement yesterday following the Air Force’s clarification of its plan to issue a revised request for proposals, saying it’s entrant for the combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program would be “at least $3 billion less expensive” than the original CSAR-X award winner, Boeing’s HH-47. In its statement, Team US101 called “a full and open recompetition” the “most appropriate path forward” and vowed to help USAF field the CSAR-X as soon as possible. The statement said, “We remain committed to meeting the program’s original [initial operational capability] date of September 2012.”
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.